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EK: So given that it's been a couple of decades since the program sunset, it's 2020 and the program ended in '98, what are some of your key takeaways, either personally or as an organization, about your time working with ORA?

KO: The key lessons are, amongst the key lessons are that it's all about people. The people that you're representing, their voices, it's all about who represents the government, and we had the good fortune of having really good people, meaning compassionate, they were all so professional, they cared so much about their job. I could never see this as being a nine to five job for the majority of people at the ORA. The travel that you had to go through, that was an important part of the workings of ORA. That good people -- and how do you get good people? Sometimes with the hiring, for example, that Bob was selected to be the director, I think he had a keen interest. And I do know that his uncle, being Japanese American, shared the story of wartime incarceration with him. For that, we are fortunate, because it maybe propelled him even a little more to get involved, and we're really, really grateful. And that he had the wisdom, experience, professionalism to hire the very best people. So as far as lessons, I think we were extremely fortunate in the good people and even the swing of the administration to a Democratic administration from Republican, from the Reagan administration, et cetera. And that even, oh, yeah, it was Reagan, and then George Bush signing the apology letters, et cetera. And then finally my sister, who was born in camp, her apology letter was signed by Clinton. A lesson from it is that, working with the ORA, that you won't always get your way, but as far as NCRR, there are some categories of denial cases where we fought with the ORA. For example, the "children of voluntary evacuees," CVEs. And, of course, we also kind of disagreed with some of the terminology used, but ORA was good about it. They could adjust the terminology because there were no voluntary, truly voluntary evacuees. That I think that there were a few places where we disagreed, but at least we were heard, we felt we were heard, and that goes again to the quality of people that were, that staffed the ORA. And that the CVEs cut off for their redress was going to be something like January 2nd of 1945, you had to have been born by them. And we struggled in the community and through NCRR to make it June, at least June, that was our compromise position of '45. And that was when the war ended, therefore people really did know they could leave the camps. But I think that it was finally settled on January 20th, that was a bitter pill. But we understood that we're working with the legal part of the Department of Justice, and I do believe that people in ORA, who will remain nameless, said that if they had their way, they would give redress and reparations to every Japanese American, whether they were on the East Coast or the Midwest, whether or not they had been incarcerated, because the impact was wide and far-reaching. The discrimination was heightened, was by the executive order. The government created more racism and prejudice than previously existed, and for that, I think we were all entitled to redress and reparations, and we were happy to hear the off-the-record comments of people, some people in the ORA who felt that way also. So we do understand, I did learn, and, of course, there is that line between what the bank of attorneys at DOJ would be willing to do, and then what I consider the heart of the organization, the people that I worked with at ORA, as representing the Department of Justice and the government. You guys were the heart.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2020 Emi Kuboyama. All Rights Reserved.